


Only a date

by AxerionZ



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Dates, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 00:27:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4079644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxerionZ/pseuds/AxerionZ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Root wants to take Shaw out on a date but Shaw says no. In consequence Root finds herself another date and Shaw finds out and gets jealous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters  
> I am not a native english speaker so there will be spelling mistakes and grammar errors.  
> This is my first fanfic ever, so it will be bad. I'm still trying to find out how everything works so there may be problems with the layout etc.

Root had decided that today will be the day she asks Shaw out on a date. She had been planning on this for weeks and now finally she could see if it works.  
It's not like she never was on a date before, she had many dates to practice when she was still a killer but they had never ment anything. That was different with Shaw.  
They had been dancing around this for a long time now, whatever THIS was. She had bought a blue dress that fits perfectly onto her body and had made a reservation in a restaurant Shaw had liked on there visit two months ago. But now she was standing before Shaws door and everything inside her was making her nervous.

"What do you want Root?" Shaw asks sounding annoyed as alwasy.

"Hi Sweetie, I was just wondering if you have time for me." She was smiling her best smile again.

"I never have time for an annoying woman with an all seeing AI inside her head." 

"And still you are here."

"Of course I am, this is my appartment after all. So, do we have a new number?" Shaw sounded a little bit hopeful at that.

"Sorry, not this time Sam. I'm here because I remembered that new steakhouse you liked so much and I thought we could pay them a visit."

This was it. Everything was depending on one word in one moment. Shaw takes in Root in the blue dress she is wearing and looked at her for a while. After a minute of silence Shaw finally clears her throat and looks Root in the eyes with her usual stony expression.

"No."

One word and everything inside of Root goes numb.

"Wh-What?"

"I am never going to date you Root. I'm not stupid."

Shaws eyes widen at the last comment and she opens her mouth as if to reply but Root cuts her of.

"Stupid? Am I such a big failure to you?" 

Even while she said it, she felt like she is going to die. Before Shaw can say anything Root is gone. 

 

Shaw stands at the door for a few minutes unsure of what to do next. Finally she decides on calling Root to explain that she didn't ment it the way she said it. Honestly, Shaw never cared before about hurting someones feelings but with Root it was different. Shaw is not doing relationships. She never even wanted but she knew that other people care about things like that and maybe even Root did. Root was not normal, she was different from all these boring people out there. She was a pain in the ass sometimes but she didn't deserve being called 'stupid' for her feelings. It's strange really, how much Shaw has changed to even care about this.

So she dials Roots number and waits...long in her opinion. When there is no reply she tries again and this time Root just stopped the call. Wow, she must be really pissed if she does something like that. Without any real option, Shaw decides to call the only other person who could know where Root is: Harold.

Luckily (or not) his reply is immediately.

"Miss Shaw? What can I do for you at this time?"

"Do you know where Root is?"

"Miss Groves wanted to talk to you alone and-

"I know that but where is she now?"

"I'm not sure, why?"

"Because I screwed up OK?" Shaw was starting to get impatient with Harold.

She heard a sign at the other end of the line and instantly became alert.

"I can't say that I'm surprised about this." he said slowly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Shaw asked definitly pissed now. How could Harold have known about this?

"I'm afraid I can't help you with this Miss Shaw."

Perfect. Just perfect. That means this whole call was useless.

"Than I have to do some research myself." Shaw signed.

 

Meanwhile in a new steakhouse. Root was sitting alone on the table she had reserved for Shaw and herself. She had expected Shaw to be annoyed with her but she never would have guessed she would say something like that. So her perfect day looked ruined and her heart felt shattered. Root was not that big on emotions herself, at least not until she met Sameen. How she ended up feeling this way is a question she can't answer herself. In the end it was 'stupid'.

"Excuse me. Is this seat taken?"

Root looked up to see a beautiful, black haired woman looking down at her. She was wearing a orange dress that showed some interesting places.

"Yeah, it's free." Root answered with a sad smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write chapter 2 way faster than I thought but it's written now. I hope it's not to bad that it's short. Next chapter will be a bit longer. Thanks for the comments on chapter 1 so far :) I'm happy I didn't screw up completely (yet). ^^

"You know, the people who come here normaly look happier than you." the woman said without loosing much time with introductions.

Root was unsure what to say. She obviously doesn't trust the woman but was a little intrigued by her behavior and well...her look. She was somewhere around 30 if Root had to guess and she looked like she was really interested in Root. That is something Root is not used to. Most people looked at her strange because she was different and 'crazy', even if they don't even know her. And then there are 'people', who looked annoyed around Root. 

Root realized that she was thinking way to much about a woman, who just appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm just having a really bad day right now." Root said while her expression became unreadable. At least she thought it would.

"I see. Do you want to tell me about her?"

Root was a little surprised about that question. How could she know that this was about another woman? However, the more important question was: Why should I tell her about this? It would be dumb to do that but somehow the woman looked so...special. Nevertheless Root decided that she had to do something. If she could manage to get some information out of her new 'friend' she could decide easier on what to do next.

"There is not much to tell. The end of the story is me being here alone."

"Well, your not alone anymore." the woman stated. 'The Woman' is an expression Root does not want to use forever, so...

"I conclude you mean that you will stay with me this evening?"

"That is correct. Only if you want of course."

"I would like that." Root said smiling happier now. Now the conversation could begin and lead to the name of her new date. Root could have a nice evening without Shaw, right?

 

Shaw entered the police departement of the NYPD to find out if Fusco knew anything about Roots current location. It's not likely that Root would tell Fusco about her plans but it was the only thing she had come up with. The conversation with Harold already told her two things: 1. Not every conversation with Harold ends up with a useful result and 2. She was on her own at this. With a topic like this it's probably obvious because it's a thing between her and Root. The problem was, she had absolutely no idea about this dating stuff, which let her back to her visit at the NYPD.

"Hello Fusco." she said with all the enthusiasm she could come up with. She wanted his help after all.

"There goes my almost free evening." he signed.

"This will only take a second, I don't want to spend more time than necessary with you."

"That's a pretty dumb way to ask for help, Shaw."

"I know many ways to get your help but I don't think you would enjoy them." Shaw was smirking evil now.

"What do you want anyway?" Fusco sounded annoyed know as well.

"Where is Root?" Shaw asks with a thread in her voice to keep him from asking questions.

"She told me she wanted to go out with you." he said a little confused.

"Wait, she even told you?!" She definitly wasn't expecting this.

"Yeah, she planned on this for weeks, even asked me if her dress looked good on her because she thought you would never ask me."

OK, she had really screwed up big this time, Shaw realised.

"She wanted to take you to this new steakhouse."

Oh, right. Shaw had already forgotten that point. Talking to Fusco wasn't that stupid of an idea at all.

"I have to go." Shaw whispered before storming of. She had a new clue to Roots whereabouts and maybe she would still find Root sitting there and waiting for her. What else would Root do anyway?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can only say thank you for all the comments again :) I hope there won't be too many mistakes in this chapter. I know it's rather short again.

Shaw entered her apartment with new hope inside of her. If Root really was at the steakhouse, she could apologize and maybe Root would forgive her. Shaw knew that she had already ruined the perfect date Root had set up but she could still have a 'normal' first date with her. 

Shaw remembered the beautiful blue dress Root was in an hour ago. She searched through her clothes to find a dress for herself now. She wanted to look at least equal to Root, although it will be hard to achieve that. Root looked stunning after all and Shaw was pretty sure she could never reach Root's level. Her dresses mostly looked the same, they were either black or white. She decided on a date with Root she should wear a black one. Root had told her many times that she looked great in black so that wasn't really a question.

Root, Root, Root. Shaw was always coming back to that name. Why didn't she just say yes? She would knock herself out if that would be possible. In the end all her regrets didn't change a thing. She needed more than just words and thoughts to fix this.

So she was standing in a black dress with black high heels, loose hair and even lipstick. That one was definitely new. The time had come to drive to the steakhouse and find Root, if she was even there at all.

 

"Now that it's clear we will stay togehter for this evening, what is your name?" Root asked a bit to shy in her own opinion.

"Alice, Alice Williams." the woman, Alice answered looking a little strange for a moment. That could only be Roots imagination.

"Hello Alice. It's nice to meet you." Root said with a smile. "You can call me Root."

"Root? That's an interesting name." Alice was smiling a little too now.

"I chosed it myself."

"Why?"

"Another long story..." Root was starting to wonder again. Normally she would have told Alice one of her many aliases but somehow today wasn't normal.

This was the time when you usually start a conversation about your partner, right? 

"May I ask what you do for living Alice?" that was the best Root could come up with.

"Oh, nothing special. I'm working as a archeologists at the museum of arts. You?"

"I do things with computers. IT business you could say." 

"Really? That means you can do coding an stuff?" Alice asked sounding really hopeful.

"I'm pretty good at that, yes." Root was speaking proudly. 

"Today seems to be my lucky day." Alice sounded exited. "I have to do a presentation about our museum in a week and I wanted to create a program that would run in the background with all of our achievements. Well, it's not working and I don't know anyone who could help me with that. Besides..."

"...me" Root finished. She could even imagine herseft helping Alice like a knight in a shining armor.

"So, what do you say? I could drive us to my place and we can work on this together." Alice didn't sound flirty when she said it. For Root there was no reason to say no. All her plans for today had been ruined after all.

"I guess we could do that." she said while standing up. She took out the money for the meal and started to walk to the exit, together with Alice.

 

When Shaw arrived at the steakhouse she only saw Root leaving with another woman. She had never guessed that Root would... she really had been selfish again, Shaw realized. She had no right to believe Root would be waiting for her after everything she had done. 

Now Root was going to sleep with someone else and Shaw could only stare and clench her fists. But there was one thing she did know. She won't give up without a fight because Root was definitely worth fighting for. However, Shaw felt like this could be one of the hardest fights of her life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos:) I think this length of 600-800 words per chapter will be my regular thing.

They arrived at the apartment at 11 o'clock. The sky was completely dark by now, only enlightened by the stars. In contrast, the lights of the city shined brighter than ever before. Alices apartment was well organized and clean. There were portraits on the walls that looked like they were painted by Alice herself.

"Did you made all of them yourself?" Root sounded impressed and honestly she was. She tried painting many years ago for a 'job'. The result was not very good, to say it nicely. She had burned all of them as soon as possible.

"Yeah, it's kind of my hobby." Alice told her before she began to explain the meaning of all these pictures. Root never was a big fan of art but when Alice talked about it she was so full of life. It reminded her of herself when she was talking to the Machine. This must be one of the things normal people do when they are not working for an all seeing intelligence to safe peoples life's.

When Alice was done talking about her portraits and the meaning of art in general she realized she had forgotten to properly invite Root. 

"Oh, sorry. Welcome to my home and come in please." she said as fast as possible.

Root felt a chuckle escape her before she could stop herself.

"It's a wonderful place." Root really liked it. The only problem were the giant windows that could make it really easy to kill someone as a sniper.

"So this is my laptop." Alice showed Root a modern laptop that looked like it was never used before. Roots eyes began to shine at the sight. It was always special to work with a new computer even if it was not the Machine.

"My programming skills are...interesting." Alice explained. "You need to do everything from the beginning I guess."

"I can tell you, it won't need to long. I am very skilled with my fingers." Root answered with a flirty smile. However, Alice didn't seem to care about the little flirt which was strange in Roots opinion. Shaw would have made a annoyed reply by now but Alice seemed to completely ignore Root for a moment. After a few seconds she turned her head to Root again.

"Take your time." With that she stood up an walked into the kitchen.

 

Shaw was back at her apartment again and had changed back into her normal clothes. Everything she could think about was Root and this other woman. What would they do by now? The answer was pretty easy. They would do some things Shaw wants to do with Root herself. Only by imagining Root do 'that' with someone else made her thick. This must be karma biting her in the ass. Maybe this woman is acting nicer to Root. Maybe she was everything that Root deserves but Shaw could give her. Too many thoughts crossed her mind and she tried desperately to cut them out. She had to come up with a plan now. Step 1 had to be to know her new enemy and to figure out why Root was attracted to her. 

Back in the steakhouse, Shaw had sneaked to the table Root had been sitting, the table Root had reserved for herself and Shaw, the table where they could have eaten together and made a copy of the other woman's fingerprints. Now she just had to analyze them and she would know her rivals name and if she had a record as a criminal. She needed to ask for Fuscos help again to use the NYPD-database. She really don't want to use Harolds research program because than she had to discuss morals and privacy with him ans she had done that enough already. When she made her way to the door she heard a knock. Had Root come back to her? For a moment she felt something like hope inside of her but when she opened the door she found no Root. Instead there was John.

"Hello Shaw." 

"Sorry John but I'm a bit in a hurry."

"Is this about Root?"

"You know that, too?" Shaw asked a little tired now.

"Harold told me. He wanted me to take care of Bear for tonight but I said I wanted to talk to you." he explained calmly.

"To talk about what?"

"About love and relationships."

Shaw just starred at him.

"I had a girlfriend once, her name was Jessica."

"The one from the picture in the safe we found in the library?"

"Yes. You know we were happy together but when I joined the CIA I left her behind. I wanted her to have a life with someone who would always come back and who would always be there for her. She married someone else and when I came back her husband had killed her. She called me a few days before that and I realized that she still loved me even if she was with someone else."

Shaw was really surprised about this outburst of feelings from John. This was the first time since she know him that he talked about this.

"Look, what I'm trying to tell you is that Root loves you as much as that sounds strange and even if she is with someone else this will be the same. You just have to do something about it before it's too late."

"Who told you she's with someone?" Shaw asked curious but quiet.

"The Machine." He answered simply. "Looks like she has a thing for the two of you."

Shaw didn't know what to say but she was thankful for Johns help.

"I will do something." she answered and felt clearer than ever before.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again: be warned about grammar and stuff etc.

The next morning was like any other morning in New York. At least for normal citizens. For Shaw it was one of the worst mornings of her life. She had spend most of the night laying in bed and thinking about a plan to confront Root. She knew that being angry was totally out of question (which felt strange in Shaws opinion), so she needed to come up with something else. Probably something completely new for Shaw. In combat this would be the last thing she would do, doing something new in a situation were the life is on the line and which could end up with death. She felt like this could have a similar outcome. Losing Root would be... well it would suck.

The result was a little vague but still, it was at least a start: Apologize. Shaw had done that before but not because of a reason like... love? Is that the right word for her situation? She wasn't even sure what that means. That question never was important or even on the table for Shaw but now? She knew that whatever this feeling is, it wasn't so bad and in connection with Root it was even good. However she had realized that a little too late. Then she remembered Johns words and yeah he was right. 

So she leaves for the subway and for the first time since it started, she didn't even think about Samaritan. What she did think of were the possibilities of Roots reaction towards her. Would she listen? Was an apology the thing Root wanted or would she just don't care anymore? That was a possibility that made Shaw shivering. Maybe Root had fun last night and had found a new person of interest. Someone who would treat her better than Shaw had.

 

Root had spend the night with working on the program Alice wanted. It wasn't special and it hadn't took long for her to complete it but she had tried to make it as good as possible. The code wasn't a problem, however the art stuff was... strange. Root still don't gets the thing with art. For her, all those pictures with these high prices are just... lines and circles. It was nothing like the beauty of a good programmed piece of code and all of its perfection. It took a while to put these paintings in the 'right' order and it was frustrating to not know if she had done it the way Alice wanted it.

The other half of the night she had spend sleeping and dreaming about her last encounter with Shaw.

She woke up early in the morning. Again the Maschine hadn't said a word. It's strange, how much she missed Her voice in her ear. After only a year of working as Her analog interface She had become an important part of her life and now Her voice is gone. 

"Did you sleep on the couch?" Alice asked from behind Root.

"Sry, fell asleep after I designed..." Root didn't had time to finish the sentence because Alice began to lighten up and within a blink she was sitting before the laptop and began to look at Roots work.

"You did it!" she exclaimed happily. "Although these two paintings are in the wrong order."

"Sry again but I have no idea about arts." Root answered with a little smile.

"Really? The rest looks fine on my first impression." Alice said with a slightly amused look.

"I guess I was lucky then."

"Ähhhhh... nope, there's another mistake." Alice pointed at two new paintings.

A pout formed in Roots face and she crossed her arms. 

Then she heard a voice in her ear and almost fell of the couch.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"Yeah" Root answered quietly.

"SUBWAY" the Maschine said before being quiet again. 

"I'm sorry Alice but I have to go." Root told Alice.

"Now? Of course." Alice stood up and followed Root to the door. "I would like to see you again." she said before Root was out.

"Well, you could give me your number." Root suggested with a coy smile. 

Alice took out a pen and wrote down her telephone number on a little piece of paper. "Here. And thanks for your help!" she added.

"My pleasure." Root answered before taking the number. "See you soon." she said before leaving. The flirty sound of her voice seemed to have little effect again. Root wondered if she was loosing her touch.

Now she began thinking about the Maschines message. Why would She ask her to go to the subway?


End file.
